Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1275: Chapter 973: Yesterday’s Illusory Dream (Part 2)

”No, I’m not, I didn’t, with Tomoko—Tomoko is just my...”

Zhenxi’s face flared red in an instant, shaken to the core, but with those eyes fixed on her, she just couldn’t bring herself to say that she only saw Tomoko as a little sister.

In the end, she suddenly, Sorrowfully realized that she actually coveted Tomoko’s body.

How base of her.

Then, when she woke from her daze, she found that tender, exquisite face already so close she could feel its breath, regarding her with lively interest.

As if it could see the painful struggle inside her Soul.

Filled with delight and wicked amusement.

Zhenxi let out a startled cry on reflex and fell backward, only to realize she was sitting on a long bench. Before she could exhale in relief, that little girl hopped up, sitting down beside her.

”My, how amusing. What do people these days have in their heads, thinking about things like that every day? It’s downright unhealthy. Even a kid like me is blushing and heart pounding just watching... Coffee or milk?”

”Huh?” Zhenxi was blank.

”Then milk for you.”

She reached into the small bag tucked beneath the men’s shirt and fished out a handful of candy, handing Zhenxi one piece.

Zhenxi stared blankly at the candy resting in her palm.

Her gaze shifted to the girl at her side.

Clearly so different from before, and yet this profile was so familiar that Zhenxi forgot to breathe. Instinctively, the words slipped out: ”...Lady SuZi?”

As soon as the words left her mouth she realized how out of line she was, and shook her head in embarrassment. ”Sorry, I’m sorry, I must have mistaken...”

”No, you didn’t.”

The calm words reached her, freezing her in place.

She stared, tongue-tied.

”If anything, the fact you’re only now noticing how much I resemble Huaizhi Sushi is already a bit dull of you.” The little girl peeled the wrapper off a coffee candy, popped it into her mouth, savoring the bitter roast and sweetness with obvious pleasure.

After a long silence, Zhenxi couldn’t hold herself back; she sprang up from the bench with a cry: ”Su... Lady SuZi?!”

”Relax, this isn’t a Dreamland. If anything, those memories you have from before are more like Dreams.”

The little girl lowered her head and folded the candy wrapper. Soon, she’d folded it into a lifelike little bird. She blew on it, and it spread its wings, fluttering.

Unfortunately, that kind of structure didn’t meet any of aerodynamics’ standards; it never managed to get off the ground, only circling in her palm.

”W–why?” Zhenxi’s eyes went wide as she leaned closer, forgetting entirely how rude she was being. ”Why did you become so... so tiny?”

Wasn’t Lady SuZi supposed to be a big-sister type!

”Ah, let’s just call it one of the defects that come with turning illusion into reality. There has to be a childhood phase, and that’s where humans get troublesome.”

Chewing her coffee candy, the girl calmly raised a hand, pressed it to Zhenxi’s forehead, and pushed her back down. ”Calm down. In a certain sense, I really am that Lady SuZi of yours.

But it might not be like you imagined. You should have noticed by now, right? The nonhuman part of Huaizhi Sushi...”

In the short silence that followed, Zhenxi nodded with difficulty.

She’d long since prepared herself for the possibility that she was chasing nothing but a Phantom.

After all, she’d been enrolled long enough to learn quite a lot, including the existence of Divine Incarnations, Soul Reflections, and even Soul Phenomena.

Only, strictly speaking, ”Huaizhi Sushi” wasn’t quite the same as any of those.

She was one of Tong Ji’s experiments.

Using her own Alchemy and Blessing, using Huai Shi’s Afterimage to condense the Pieta Divine Nature of the Soloist into an incarnation—then, under Huai Shi’s performance and Maintain, letting it gradually slip free of Huai Shi’s own shackles, finally forming a ”Miracle Imprint.”

You could call it a ”Phenomenon” without being wrong.

Granted Divine Nature by Tong Ji, granted humanity by Huai Shi, and ultimately shaped, through an Afterimage as the vessel of Miracle, into a ”Reflection.” In that night when Tanbo burned, witnessed by countless people, the human Miracle was finally completed.

Now, the Reflection had completed its mission as well and thoroughly dispersed.

Only Tong Ji and Huai Shi had never expected that such a delightful result would remain behind.

A fascinating Soul.

After wandering in the dark for so long, she had not lost herself; at the mere glimpse of a thread of light, she’d chased it all the way to the present, never caring whether what lay ahead was an open road or an Abyss...

Should that be called innocence, or foolishness?

Either way, such stubbornness was enough to be stirring and worthy of praise.

But in the end, she still had to be given an answer.

Isaac was far too much like his own teacher—though he might seem cold and indifferent, he was always overly hesitant and tender about things like this, so he could only swallow the truth and stand by, silently nursing a stomachache.

And so it was dragged out longer and longer.

But once she learned the result, how would she respond?

In the long silence, Zhenxi stared at her, dazed. At last, she murmured in a haze: ”So that means... I might never see Lady SuZi again from now on...”

”Perhaps.”

The little girl nodded. ”There are always partings in life, Zhenxi. You met a Dream. The Dream ended, so you could see the sunlight. No matter how beautiful a past Dream might be, you shouldn’t stay inside it.”

The Teenage Girl fell silent, and in the end couldn’t help the redness flooding her eyes.

”I thought I was prepared, but I’m still a little sad... I’m sorry...” She clumsily wiped at the corners of her eyes, lowered her head, suppressing the sobs.

”You don’t feel any resentment, Zhenxi?” The girl glanced back at her, asking curiously, ”It might be that SuZi’s existence was only a lie.”

Zhenxi shook her head hard.

”The reason I held on until now, the reason I could become who I am today, is all because of the things Lady SuZi taught me. I’m deeply grateful to her...” She scrubbed at her tears in a fluster and lifted her head, answering earnestly, ”I—I want to become someone like Lady SuZi.”

She said solemnly, ”Even if she was fake, it doesn’t matter. I’ll never forget her!”

In the stillness, the scrutinizing girl raised an eyebrow, then suddenly broke into a radiant smile.

With quiet satisfaction, she reached out and ruffled Zhenxi’s hair.

”What a good child you are, Zhenxi.”

She said, ”The existence of Huaizhi Sushi is Miracle itself.

Now that you’ve received this Miracle, you’re walking along the path she hoped for. So you don’t need to be restless or afraid—you are the trace she left in this world.

So, do your best.

One day, you too will become someone’s ’SuZi,’ the light that shines for them...”

She paused, then suddenly changed tack, her smile turning mischievous. ”But for now, you’d better properly enjoy the youth that belongs to you and that Miss Tomoko of yours.”

Under the afternoon sun, a gentle wind blew in from far away.

It lifted her long hair once more.

Light as a feather, she hopped down from the bench, waved goodbye, and turned to leave.

Only, at the very end, she looked back, giving a deeply meaningful glance toward the two figures hidden in the grass in the distance.

Whether out of curiosity or amusement, no one could say.